How wartime urgency pushed Iran to court Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan

TEHRAN — The meeting Monday between Iran and the three signatories of the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement offered Tehran a rare opportunity to engage with countries whose security interests increasingly intersect with its own, even as their military cooperation raises questions about Iran's regional ambitions. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin met in Tehran with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and senior security officials, including Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei.

The meeting came amid escalating Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, a widening regional conflict and renewed fears of US and Israeli strikes against Iran. According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, the four countries agreed to continue dialogue on regional peace and security, although they announced no specific security agreement or concrete implementation plan. For the Islamic Republic, the meeting serves two purposes. It offers a diplomatic pathway at a moment when the confrontation with Washington and Israel threatens to deepen Iran's isolation.

It also allows Tehran to promote its longstanding argument that regional security should be managed by Middle Eastern states rather than external powers. Pezeshkian urged Islamic countries to adopt a coordinated stance against what he called Israeli "aggression and assassination." Rezaei said the participants agreed that Israel should withdraw from southern Lebanon, southern Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, presenting the talks as evidence of a changing regional climate, according to Iran's Mehr News Agency.